EnviroBus Buck Online Application

The EnviroBus Buck Transportation Grant Program provides grants for school bus excursions, offering students the opportunity to learn about environmental education using a hands-on approach during visits to host sites which promote environmental stewardship. The grant covers school bus transportation fees only. Lunch/meals, entrance fees, and substitute teacher fees are not covered. Teachers are encouraged to find creative ways to fundraise to cover additional fees. Consideration will be given to all qualifying applications. Qualifying applications will be reviewed in the order they were received. Only one EBB grant per teacher, per year will be awarded. If there are remaining funds available after all eligible applicants have been awarded, multiple grants may be awarded to a single teacher that has met all the requirements. Multiple grant awards MAY NOT BE USED ON THESAME DAY.Individual trips must be used on same day and cannot be divided into multiple days for any reason without first receiving prior authorization from the MEEC Program Specialist. To do so will forfeit your grant and no monies will be paid.

A list of participating host sites has been created in good faith on the part of MEEC and our sponsors; however, if for any reason the site selected is unable to accommodate the school, MEEC staff will work with the teachers to make arrangements to visit an alternate host site. YOU MUST SELECT TWO POSSIBLE SITES FROM OUR CURRENT LIST OF HOST SITES.

TO BE CONSIDERED, APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 5:00 PM, OCTOBER 31 , 2017. NO LATE APPLICATIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR FUNDING.

General Rules & Guidelines

1. Once the judging has been completed, grant recipients will receive a formal award letter along with an information packet for the EnviroBus Buck Transportation Grant host site selected mailed to their school site. The packet will include all contact information necessary for the recipient to schedule the field trip. Non-awardees will be notified via email indicating why your grant application was denied.

2. DETERMINING GRANT AWARD SITES: Teachers must select a 1st and 2nd choice of where they would like to visit on the Grant Application. MEEC determines which choice you will receive based upon the overall total cost of all choices, then makes the selection to best maximize the budget so that all eligible grant applicants may be awarded a field trip.

3.No more than three (3) buses requested per applicant.

4. Grant recipients are responsible for setting up all travel arrangements, which include, but are not limited to:

Notifying MEEC of any changes to host site. You must notify MEEC immediately if you are, for any reason, visiting a site that was not authorized on your grant award letter. Failure to do so may result in non-payment from MEEC.

d. Notifying MEEC Program Specialist of planned field trip date or if trip is unable to be taken.

Coordinating the field trip date with the host site contact personnel.

Obtaining District Board and/or Principal approval.

Providing MEEC with a COPY OF THE ACTUAL SCHOOL DISTRICT ROUND TRIP TRANSPORTATION COSTS FROM YOUR SCHOOL AND TO/FROM YOUR REQUESTED SITE (INCLUDING TOUR TIME, DEPARTURE/ARRIVAL PRE-TIMES). IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO SECURE A WRITTEN ESTIMATE FROM YOUR TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT, A GOOGLE MAP OR SIMILAR MAP PRINTOUT THAT INCLUDES ROUNDTRIP MILEAGE AND YOUR DISTRICT TRANSPORTATION COSTS (PER HOUR OR PER MILE) WILL BE ACCEPTED. MEEC IS NOT LIABLE FOR UNSCHEDULED STOPS/ADDITIONAL CHARGES INCURRED THAT WERE NOT INCLUDED IN THE ORIGINAL GRANT APPLICATION COSTS SUBMITTED.

Providing chaperones:A minimum of one adult chaperone for every ten students. (Note: If sufficient chaperones are not provided, the host site may cancel the field trip at their discretion and no funds will be paid by MEEC).

Insuring that MEEC is billed for the cost of school bus transportation by the June 30, 2017 deadline. Failure to submit invoice by the deadline may result in loss of grant for the following year.

ALL TRANSPORTATION INVOICES MUST INCLUDE TEACHER NAME, SCHOOL,LOCATION OF TRIP AND DATE OF TRIP TO PROCESS PAYMENT IN A TIMELY MANNER. MISSING INFORMATION WILL CAUSE A DELAY IN PAYMENT PROCESSING AS THE INVOICE WILL BE RETURNED TO THE REQUESTEE FOR COMPLETION.

5. Grant recipients may transfer/share the grant to/with another educator from the same school site. However, the original number of buses requested may not be exceeded nor the destination site changed. Please notify MEEC of any such changes immediately. YOU MAY NOT USE MEEC EBB FUNDS TO VISIT A SITE THAT IS DIFFERENT THAN THE SITE INDICATED ON YOUR AWARD LETTER (SUCH AS SECOND CHOICE.) You must notify MEEC immediately if you are exchanging sites with another teacher from your school who has received an EBB Transportation Grant Award. MEEC is not liable to cover these charges without prior MEEC authorization for the change.

6. Distance traveled by bus from school to host site and back may not exceed 350 miles. (Meaning, the round trip mileage total may not exceed 350 miles.)

7. EnviroBus Buck Transportation Grants must be scheduled to occur within the school year the grant is awarded. If for any reason the grant is not used in the school year it is awarded, allocated funds will be forfeited. NO EXCEPTIONS!

8.Due to the high cost of fuel, school district transportation should be used for all trips. Exceptions may apply and MEEC should be notified immediately. MEEC is not responsible for District bus services and does not approve/disapprove which school transportation service your School District chooses to use, but the MEEC Executive Board reserves the right to approve/disapprove the use of charter bus services on a case-by-case basis.

9. Liability Clause: MEEC and its agents are released from any and all liabilities which may arise from participation in field trip. MEEC field trip liability form required for each student and submitted one week prior to the scheduled field trip or grant may be forfeited.

10. Grant recipients are required to submit an online program evaluation survey after the field trip along with three (3) student field trip evaluation surveys. Surveys are available online only and will be available for completion from December 1, 2017 until June 30, 2018. Failure to submit survey may result in loss of funds for next year grant.

Our Mission

MEEC improves the environmental literacy of students, teachers, and communities of the Mojave Desert Region by actively providing educational resources.